Predicting Groupware Usage

As organizations are adopting new structures such as the networked organization and the virtual organization, groupware is increasingly being used as a way of implementing these new organizational forms. Although user acceptance of groupware technology by the intended users is a prerequisite for realizing its full potential in organizations, there is no clear understanding about why people accept or reject groupware technology. Davis’ [5],[6] technology acceptance model (TAM) provides an useful basis in answering this question. It has been found that, with traditional end-user computing tools such as word processor and spreadsheet software, behavioral intention measured shortly after a brief training of the software can reasonably predict the usage behavior measured later in the system deployment process. Given the unique characteristics of groupware technology, particularly its social nature involving multiple users and its technical complexity, however, it is not clear whether traditional TAM can be still used in predicting groupware acceptance. In a longitudinal study with 108 senior executives, intentions to use a specific groupware system, measured two weeks after the training and initial introduction of the technology, were found not to be correlated with system use eight weeks later. As in previous IS research based on TAM, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use were strongly correlated with contemporaneously measured behavioral intention and system use. These results suggest a possible existence of a social influence process in the groupware technology acceptance process. Managers need to be careful in trying to predict user acceptance using behavioral intention 1060-3425/98 $10.0 measured shortly after a short training or introduction of the technology to the intended users. Instead, managers may need to pay much closer attention to the social process of the groupware acceptance process in